Snowflake Nails (plus bonus Christmas dog!)

 

I have been very lax recently - no excuse, but my nails have been shocking.  Partially cos I keep doing really stupid things, and knocking the corners of them off!  And then I decided to try thinning scissors out on my cocker spaniel, and ending up thinning my index finger instead - ouch!  You might notice in the pics below that I am tucking my index finger a little out of view - no-one needs to see that....

But it's December and I am seeing snowflake mani's everywhere, so thought I would try out my Bundle Monster plate 323 that I have been saving for a suitably festive period!

To start with though, I started with two coats of OPI Cuckoo For This Color, a gorgeous teal green shimmer.  Over the top, I tried something I have been waiting to try for ages - Models Own Jack Frost, a fine - medium irredescent glitter.  Really lovely and I wished I had taken some pics before I stamped over the top, as the snowflakes somewhat obliterate it, but I may try it on its own over another colour another day.  Really pretty and insanely sparkly!

Then the final stamping, with a few accents using bits of glitter from OPI I Snow You Love Me.  Very festive!

Base coat Orly Bonder
2 coats OPI Cuckoo For This Color
Stamped with BM323 and Konad Special Polish White
Top coat Seche Vite
Glitter accents from OPI I Snow You Love Me

 

 

And completely off topic, here is the pic I took of Lottie, my eleven month old spaniel, which I am waiting to arrive on custom printed Christmas cards!  The portable studio lighting and tripod I use for photographing my nails came in very useful!!!   However, Lottie is in her first season at the moment, so is mooching around like a hormonal teenager....  oestrogen has a lot to answer for!

Models Own Southern Lights & Bundle Monster 321

 

Just a quick one - I thought the sparkliness of Models Own Southern Lights was so gorgeous, that I would try stamping over it, as I didn't want to take it off just yet.  I wanted to keep it quite subtle so I used the flower image from Bundle Monster plate 321 from the 2012 collection and stamped it with Konad White Special Stamping polish - I like the effect, it looks rather wintery!  The snowflakes would look lovely as well, but I didn't want to use them as I have some very pretty snowflake stickers that I want to use at some point, so went with the flowers this time.  Getting better at this stamping malarkey!

As before, I had to take these under my kitchen lights to try and get a hint of the sparkle (nothing like what you see in real life!) so apologies for seeing anything like shadows and tiles in the background.

Base coat Orly Bonder
2-3 coats Southern Lights
Top coat Seche Vite
Stamped with plate BM321 and Konad Special Stamping Polish in White

 

 

Barry M Plum with Born Pretty Store stamping plate QA27

 

It's getting colder and colder, and we are heading further and further into the recesses of winter, so decided to go with something dark and vampy.  This is Barry M Plum, from their Gelly Hi-Shine range.

I didn't do the best job with application on this one - was probably not concentrating as much as I should have been - but it is a gorgeous, deep vampy plum, which to my eyes dries a little darker than the bottle, but like the rest of the range, has a gorgeous, smooth shiny finish, which you don't need top coat over.  I actually have about seven bottles from this range now - perhaps I should do a swatch of them?

Over the top, I used a plate I had picked up ridiculously cheaply on my last order from Born Pretty Store but hadn't used yet.  Having only used Bundle Monster and Konad so far, I am actually quite impressed with the quality for the price - seems to stamp cleanly for me (not that my stamping technique is the best).  I used a Konad Special Stamping Polish in a bronzy colour - sorry, I don't know the names of my stamping polishes (well apart from black and white of course) - I grabbed a load when they were selling them for £2.00 each and the mini bottles don't have names on!

And I am rather excited - I am on a weeks leave from work and planning a trip to Ikea to get my very own Helmer!  I don't have NEARLY enough to fill it, but hey - nothn' wrong with a little room to grow, is there?

 

China Glaze Foie Gras matte damask nails

It's Chocolate Week this week - did you know that?   Originally I thought I would use my China Glaze Foie Gras to do a chocolate themed manicure, but I just couldn't make up my mind what to do.  Never mind, it's not too late - it's Chocolate Week till Sunday!   So for now I decided to do a bit of stamping with it, and also try out the matte topcoat I picked up from Claire's a couple of weeks ago.

Foie Gras is from the China Glaze Hunger Games Capitol Collection 2012, and is a lovely creamy chocolatey brown.  It does dry darker on the nail than is visible in the bottle, and you can kind of see that in the pics, but it is perfect coverage in two coats.  I have to admit, this is my only brown (at the moment!) but it is a brown that I am quite fond of.

I stamped this with Konad Special Polish Hepburn Blue, and used two plates from Bundle Monster 2012 collection - 306 and 318.  I think I like the mix of the two different stamps, but sometimes I think I should have just stuck to one - what do you think? 

And then to finish off, I used Claire's matte topcoat.  This is the first matte topcoat I have tried and I am really impressed.  It gives a lovely satiny sheen, and I can't stop touching it! I have to say, I have been really impressed with the polishes I have bought from Claire's lately.    Oh and apologies about the slightly shoddy cleanup.  I was falling asleep at this point and it looked okay until I pointed a camera lense at it....

Base coat Nail Envy
Two coats China Glaze Foie Gras
Stamping polish Konad Special Polish Hepburn Blue
Top coat Claire's matte topcoat.

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Breast Cancer Awareness Month October 2013 - Pink Friday mani!

So we are in October, and the whole of October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, with "Pink Fridays".  So perfect excuse to do a pink themed mani!

Now, I will say right up I wasn't particularly happy with it - it's cute, but it didn't go particularly smoothly.  Plus those tip images on stamping plates are a bugger to get straight!

So, to start of with, 3 coats of China Glaze Something Sweet.  On my little finger, Barielle Pink Diamond - a really beautiful pink glitter.  I did a silver sponged gradient on two nails, using Barry M Foil Effect in silver which is probably the bit I was most miffed with as I completely botched my middle finger (but was too tired and ran out of time to do it again). Stamping is done with Bundle Monster plates BM324 and BM321 and a Konad Special Polish in one of the pinks (sorry, don't know which one - I have the tiny little bottles and can't find it on them!) and then finished off with tiny little pink crystals to accentuate, from Born Pretty Store.  And COPIOUS amounts of Seche Vite....

 Well, at least it's massively pink!!!

L'Oreal Color Riche Black Swan & Bundle Monster Plate 323

After realising I didn't have any blacks (the horror!), I thought I''d try out a L'Oreal polish for the first time in years.   I was very pleasantly surprised - The Black Swan is a super glossy, pitch black polish, that is opaque in two coats.   Not to mention the easiest brush I have EVER used!

And as my latest dabblings have been around stamping and polka dots, why not combine them in the one mani?!   So I used plate 323 from Bundle Monster's 2012 collection for the lacy bit as a  corner accent, and then added polka dots to the rest of my nail.  For the stamping I used Konad Special Polish in white and then used Barry M Matt White (which isn't  matte, confusingly - named after someone called Matt White?) to do the dots.   Was quite pleased with this one and had a few compliments too!

Base coat Orly Bonder, two coats L'Oreal Color Riche The Black Swan, stamping BM323 and Konad Special Polish in white, polka dots Barry M Matt White, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat.

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